hilde van der sterren photography

week 52 project - week 4 "Framing: Doorways"

As you might know by now a group of very talented photographers, all connected through the fab photographer Nicole Van, have decided to do a week 52 project. Each week we will have a certain theme as our guideline and it is our job to show our interpretation of that theme.

Well.... we have left Oman on Wednesday night arriving in the Netherlands on Thursday morning. So the timing for this weeks theme is challenging, to say the least. I decided to take an Omani door. I would like to say 'thank you' to the beautiful Sultanate of Oman. We will miss you and are very thankful for the six years we have spend there. 

And now please check  Rachel Nielsen website to see her interpretation of this theme

week 52 project - week 3 "Low Depth of Field: Sliver of focus"

As you might know by now a group of very talented photographers, all connected through the fab photographer Nicole Van, have decided to do a week 52 project. Each week we will have a certain theme as our guideline and it is our job to show our interpretation of that theme.

This week our theme is a small aperture nr. This is sometimes confusing for some because a small nr. like f 2.8 means your lens is wide open. And with a larger nr. like f 22 it is almost closed. A small f nr gives a beautiful bokeh and draws the eye to the subject. You blur the background. 

Here is my take of this morning. Since we have only 5 days left in Oman and leave for Moscow. This image seems to be appropriate.

Camera settings for this image above are: f 1.6, 1/1600 sec, iso 200. I used my 50 mm lens f1.4 on my Nikon D700.

I really love shooting wide open. I like how it isolates the subject.

Here is another example:

This one was shot with a macro lens (60 mm).

And now hop over to Rachel Nielsen to see her interpretation. 

Two girls and a boy

One of my last shoots here in Oman. I have 'shot' them before and it was so nice to do it again. It was very interesting to hear the ideas the children had. What about over here? Or this is what I have seen a model do in a magazine. Love it when the kids are so engaged and have idea's of their own. It was a big change from the last time ;-). 

    

When I am old and wise...

This song went through my head when I was doing this shoot. I love this idea. Her mum is visiting her here in Oman. And they had the idea of making a card to send to her mum's friends. And besides the card they now have some lovely images of her mum as well. Something to treasure forever...

I 'found' this tree a while ago and was very happy that I could use it in this shoot. 

family of five | family photographer Muscat

I remember the day she told me she was pregnant with baby nr. 3. We were at the tailor where I had  some maternity clothes change into 'normal' clothes. I just had our third child, a boy. Mr. L. didn't have an easy start. He was born too early. His dad kept us posted on everything from the beginning. 

Recently he had an operation that will make him able to walk by himself before the age of 5. He has the best support around him that anyone can think of. He is adored by his sisters and of course by his parents and friends. I had some thankful, happy tears running over my face when his mum asked me to take some images. I love to be part in the process of seeing Mr. L. walking. 

As I said on facebook already. This last image reflects family for me. This is what family is all about: to create a safe haven for your children. A place where you can be you. A little world of it's own in this big world.

Week 52 project - week 2 Delicate

This week our theme is Delicate. I had all kinds of ideas but living in a temporary house (with hardly anything) prior to our move to Moscow made some ideas a bit difficult to prosecute. For instance I had a very lovely piece of a lace dress in mind (shot with my Lensbaby) but since it is already in the container...

So I decided to look for what I do have and I thought about this necklace. It is made of feathers and feathers are delicate. And after making the picture I started to play with some textures. And this is my end result of this week's theme. 

I really like to get inspired with these themes. It makes you think outside the box ;-).

And now please hop over to Rachel Nielsen and look at her interpretation of this theme. 

week 52 project - week 1 High Key

First of all I would like to wish everyone a fabulous and very photographic 2012. I hope all your wishes come through.

And although I don't do New Year resolutions ;-) I love to get involved in this new project.

A group of very talented photographers, all connected through the fab photographer Nicole Van, have decided to do a week 52 project. Each week we will do a certain theme and it is our job to show our interpretation of that theme.

Our first week’s theme is “high key”. High Key images are defined by many photographers in many different ways. But the basic element of a high key photo is that it is very bright and usually has a lot of white. 

So this morning I asked my girls to put on something white and give me 5 minutes of their time ;-). I explained to them the concept of the project and they were happy to be involved.

The next photographer in our project is Yvonne Niemann